


A Family of Strangers

by JediC8H10N4O2



Series: After: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Family, Gen, Post-Hogwarts, Siblings change, Weasley Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediC8H10N4O2/pseuds/JediC8H10N4O2
Summary: Charlie had left Britain after Hogwarts. He didn't regret that. He needed to leave, to go to the dragon reserve. Yes, it meant leaving his family, but that was fine. After all, it wasn't like they would change much. They were rule-abiding Percy and crazy FredandGeorge and Ron and baby Ginny and Bill. They'd always be that way.War changes everything.





	A Family of Strangers

Charlie hadn't been around to see his younger siblings grow up. He didn't regret it, because he loved his job and couldn't imagine doing anything else. He had never felt at home on the ground with people. He needed to be flying, or working with dragons. Something exciting. People were just not his forte. He would just sit back and watch everyone at family gatherings Bill and his mother made him go to and feel a pang of guilt that he didn't really recognize his younger siblings.

Bill hadn't changed. Not really. Sure, he now had a scar on his face and three kids he was trying to keep track of, but Bill was the same Bill Charlie knew from Hogwarts. It wasn't much of a surprise that there had been no change, because Bill grew up before Charlie, and they had always been close. As close as Charlie was to anyone.

Percy had relaxed a bit. He remembered hearing from Bill about the brief period of time where Percy hadn't been on speaking terms with the family, but he hadn't really been around to understand it. Sure, it had been weird he hadn't been at Bill's wedding, but Charlie had hardly been around his siblings since he graduated, so it wasn't that life changing. But seeing Percy crack smiles, and attempt to joke, and even act loving to a human being was odd. It wasn't the Percy Charlie remembered, and every time he went to family events and saw Percy being the new Percy, he had to remember that fourth year Percy wasn't who he had grown up to be.

Charlie hated to admit it, but George scared him. Working with dragons and away from the rest of the family, it was easy to ignore the fact that he had lost a brother. Seeing George without Fred just screamed wrong to all of Charlie's senses, and for the longest time he tried to avoid being alone with George. Even several years later, when George had managed to move on and be happy and have a family no matter how unintentional it was in the beginning, Charlie was uneasy around him. He had been so used to FredandGeorge that just George was something he couldn't really handle.

Bill had ended up pulling him aside at some family event to tell him that George felt that Charlie hated him for living instead of Fred. After that, Charlie worked harder to try and overcome his inability to handle just George. After all, it wasn't his brother's fault Charlie no longer recognized George nor was able to deal Fred's absence.

Ron was a stranger. He wasn't the young annoying brother who kept looking up to him. He was a hero to Britain, and had friends Charlie didn't know and experiences Charlie could never have. Charlie felt that Ron was both older and wiser than he was now. Definitely more able to be responsible. Charlie couldn't imagine retiring from his job to help George. He couldn't imagine retiring from his job. He could barely imagine moving to a sanctuary in Britain. He would never be able to give up his dream to help someone else out. So this Ron was quite a bit different from the Ron that Charlie remembered. Sometimes Charlie forgot they were the same person.

Ginny was not a little girl. He had been a part of the group when they told Harry before the wedding that if he hurt her, they would find some way to make his life miserable. It was really hard to find an appropriate threat for someone who had come back from the dead, and he had been the only one who hadn't laughed when Harry had dryly pointed out that Ginny would probably do a better job making his life miserable if he hurt her. The Ginny he remembered had been seven or eight, and only really able to complain to Mum. He heard stories about Ginny from her school days, but stories of a girl who would curse anyone who crossed her just didn't seem to fit into the image he had of a young girl crying when he wouldn't let her try his broomstick. He still didn't know everything that had happened during her sixth year at Hogwarts, and sort of doubted he'd ever know, but he knew she had helped to lead a resistance group inside the castle. He wouldn't have been brave enough to do that. Too much dealing with people for him to comfortable leading. The only reason he had managed to get through being the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team was by letting the crazy young keeper come up with plans. So the woman that everyone called Ginny was as strange to Charlie as Ron.

His mother wanted him to come around more often, to move back to Britain, but Bill managed to run interference for him. Bill knew him, after all. Knew how Charlie didn't see people the same way most did. Knew how Charlie needed dragons, and the challenge presented in Romania. And so Bill would send him letters and occasionally visit with his family and tell him about how his siblings were doing. He wouldn't let Charlie forget, but also wouldn't force Charlie to deal with people who should have been familiar but were now strangers more than he had to. Charlie was really grateful to Bill.

But sometimes it made him wonder if he had changed at all. Did his siblings recognize him? Was it wrong that he had trouble connecting his memories of his siblings as kids with the adults they were now?

**Author's Note:**

> This sort of stems from missing my brother's high school years. I was in college, and came home and my baby brother with long hair and dreams of being a rock star had grown up and cut his hair and loved excel spreadsheets and wanted to be an entrepreneur. It was hard reconciling my memories with the person he was now.


End file.
